Replies: 4 comments 10 replies
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In this case, you have to use KiKit as a library and write a custom Python script for the panelization. Basically, you have operations like "Put board here", "add tabs in this way", "add frame" and save the panel. See [documentation] https://github.com/yaqwsx/KiKit/blob/master/doc/panelization.md. The UI is designed so it is easy to use and covers 99 % of the use cases. For anything more complicated, using KiKit as a library is the intended way. |
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Getting extremely frustrated here due to the complete lack of examples (or usable documentation) on KiKit 1.x.x. Then I made the colossal mistake of updating to 1.0.5 (complete laptop reinstall/upgrade, etc.)
So let's see if it's possible to even just put 4 different PCBs into a single kicad_pcb file.
After all that frustration, I was finally able to get the 4 boards in a single file (all identical dimensions BTW, just very slight modifications to the parts on them)...an hour later than it would have been on 0.7. I'll take a bunch of random stabs in the dark trying to figure out how to get the mousebites between the 4 (identically shaped and sized) PCBs--or until I get too frustrated to continue...and just give up and have to panelize the boards by hand. Is it too much to ask for at least ONE working Python scripting example SOMEWHERE on the entire Internet???? Please???! |
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Hi,
I am sorry that KiKit is causing you frustration. That is not my intention. The software is provided "as is" and I am trying to improve it as much as I can. |
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So after another 3 hours of tweaking, guessing and throwing code snippits at the board to see what stuck, I somehow managed to get a panelized end result... Firstly, I managed to infer from the documentation that there was a likely connection between "annotations" and the KiKit footprints. (I can't find any place where this is clearly indicated in the KiKit documentation--it's just hinted.) So I went to the KiCad PCM (Plugin and Content Manager), and installed them. Piece of cake, right? So now the fun begins. How in the world do I reference such 'annotations' in KiKit? Yes, this is mentioned in the CLI documentation--but if there's one thing the documentation IS clear about, it's that the ONLY way to panelize multiple PCB designs is to use the Python scripting interface. It can't be done with CLI or GUI. An absolute lifesaver was one recent KiKit Python script I managed to find. While it's quite overcomplicated for my very simple needs...at least it was an example with code that at least purportedly worked for something for someone. https://gist.github.com/mairas/f1531ec54dd04aad01e922324e6affa6 Ugh...... Anyway, I did finally manage to get a panelized output. But could you PLEASE at least have ONE working Python scripting example for multi-board design panelizing SOMEWHERE??!?!?!? Even if there isn't documentation for the functions, I can usually hack around with an example until I figure out what the functions/arguments do, and then adapt it to do what I need. Regardless, I ended up with the following script: |
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Well, thank you for sharing your experience. I will definitely use it as feedback once I will be updating the documentation. Just a few notes to clear a few things up and possibly help you:
I am aware of the current limitation in the documentation. However, writing the documentation doesn't pay my bills and it is something that I do in my spare time. If you create some documentation/improvement in the docstring, I will be more than happy to accept a PR with that. I hope to improve the documentation in the upcoming 6-10 months (I started with the tooling for building the documentation – I want to be able to properly render the script output and so on). If you would like to see proper documentation for KiKit CLI scripting soon, you can consider hiring me to do. PS: There are plans for supporting of multi-design panels without programming: #327 |
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Hello guys, Traceback (most recent call last): |
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I have derived the KiKit GUI panelization code to create a small script that creates a panel of two different designs with identical dimensions. |
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I'm putting together a CLI tool for doing multi-project panelization: https://github.com/snhobbs/kikit-multipanel. The input is a pandas DataFrame for the board placement which is read from an xls or xlsx spreadsheet. This could easily be json, csv, etc. if desired. Write a presets file and put your board arrangement into a spreadsheet the feed it into the CLI. I included an example, more to come. I'd like to add an second tool that uses Guillotine Cutting or a similar rectangle packing algorithm to optimize the panel arrangement. There's a rectpack library that works well if anyone is interested in helping! |
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For a simpler way to customize the layout process, you can use a layout plugin! It avoids having to rewrite a lot of the stuff that the CLI already does for you. I wrote this simple plugin that lets you make a grid of different types of boards. The boards are simply laid out left to right and wrapped when a certain number of columns is reached. If the board sizes are not similar the results can be a bit wonky (tabs ending in mid-air etc), but it can serve as a starting point for your own layout algorithm. To use it, save the code in a file in your working directory and then just use multi_grid_layout.py from kikit.common import KiPoint
from kikit.panelize import Panel, expandRect, findBoardBoundingBox, pcbnew
from kikit.plugin import LayoutPlugin
from kikit.units import mm
class Plugin(LayoutPlugin):
def buildLayout(self, panel: Panel, mainInputFile: str, _sourceArea):
layout = self.preset["layout"]
cols = layout.get("cols", None)
if not cols:
raise RuntimeError("Specify the number of colums like this: --layout '...; cols: 3'")
cols = int(cols)
boards = layout.get("boards", None)
if not boards:
raise RuntimeError("Specify the boards and counts like this: --layout '...; boards: board_a.kicad_pcb, 3*board_b.kicad_pcb'")
panel.sourcePaths.add(mainInputFile)
netRenamer = lambda n, orig: self.netPattern.format(n=n, orig=orig)
refRenamer = lambda n, orig: self.refPattern.format(n=n, orig=orig)
col = x = y = next_y = 0
for filename in boards.split(","):
parts = filename.split("*", 1)
filename = parts[-1].strip()
count = 1 if len(parts) == 1 else int(parts[0])
for _ in range(count):
board = pcbnew.LoadBoard(filename)
size = panel.appendBoard(
filename=filename,
destination=KiPoint(x, y),
sourceArea=expandRect(findBoardBoundingBox(board), 1 * mm),
netRenamer=netRenamer,
refRenamer=refRenamer,
rotationAngle=self.rotation,
inheritDrc=False,
)
col += 1
if col == cols:
col = x = 0
y = next_y
else:
x += size.GetWidth() + self.vspace
next_y = max(next_y, y + size.GetHeight() + self.hspace)
return panel.substrates |
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Hi, I would like to know if we can use kikit to panelize two(or more) different boards with same shape in to one panel?
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